Amenitisation will continue to be one of the key trends in flexible workspace across the Asia Pacific region, with Australia at the forefront. Our recently released Flexible Workspace Outlook Report 2019 for APAC maintains that commercial offices will begin to layer up with occupier-focused amenities that elevate the experience of the end user, allowing for greater flexibility and choice, a trend we refer to as Amenitisation.
We believe Australia currently leads APAC in terms of Amenitisation, with an increasing number of Australian Premium and A Grade office buildings including additional facilities which may include events spaces, suites of meeting rooms, wellness facilities and curated food and beverage offerings in addition to having flexible workspace. We anticipate this trend will continue to be adopted by building owners throughout Australia and across Asia.

Australia is highly regarded in Asia as being a more mature market when it comes to landlord’s offering such amenity in their buildings. We saw this first with end-of-trip facilities and basic third-spaces in building lobbies however, we are now seeing an evolution to incorporate flexible space. A prime example of the next generation of this kind of offering in Sydney is AMP Capital’s Quay Quarter Tower development. Quay Quarter Tower will have significant retail, food and beverage offerings along with an extensive flexible workspace that is likely to include meeting room and conference facilities available for tenants within AMP Capital’s national portfolio to utilise; all of which is being designed to ensure a seamless and curated offering for customers.

Colliers 2019 Flexible Space report also states in the short-term, mergers and acquisitions will be driven by smaller local and regional players coming together to create greater coverage, and through operators from the US and EMEA entering the market via local partners. We expect a trend of consolidation to continue by way of mergers and acquisitions, like WeWork through the acquisition of naked Hub and Gravity in 2018. We are still seeing demand from Asian-based operators looking to move into the Australian market and overall we are expecting to see continued growth throughout 2019 and 2020.We’re also seeing growth from Australian based operators such as Victory Offices who recently listed on the ASX in support of their broader expansion aspirations throughout Australian and Asia.

It's not just Sydney and Melbourne experiencing growth in the flexible space sector though. Brisbane has reached its lowest vacancy in five years, with flexible operators directly contributing to the take up in space. The Brisbane office market remains an attractive location for flexible workspace operators given the large number of small businesses operating in Queensland, in particular we’ve seen larger scale operators like IWG looking to expand their footprint in Brisbane.

We are also aware of reports of further new flexible workspace operators that are in the process of negotiating new locations across both the Brisbane CBD and the fringe markets which will further contribute to the absorption of existing and newly developed stock.

Download the 2019 APAC Flexible Space Report to learn more about what’s to come in the flexible space sector across APSC, like premium design and landlord partnerships will also remain key trends for the flexible workspace market in the Asia-Pacific region over the next 2 years.

If you’re interested in learning more about the findings of this report, flexible workspace (which includes coworking, serviced offices, third spaces etc,) and how it could be suitable for your business feel free to get in touch with one of our Tenant Advisors.

Related Experts

Rowan Humphreys

A Tenant Advisor with Colliers International who specialises in Sydney’s office markets and has a keen interest in the Tech/Media and Healthcare/LifeSciences sectors.

With 12 years’ experience exclusively representing occupiers of commercial real estate, Rowan has an established professional network in the property industry and a strong track record of successful transactions.

Rowan is passionate about helping his clients achieve their business objectives by providing advice, strategy and representation throughout the entire leasing process; from sourcing and evaluation through to successfully securing his client's preferred property.

Rowan has represented and advised a multitude of Tech companies throughout his career, leads Colliers’ Tech Practice Group in Australia and is a member of Colliers’ APAC Tech Practice Group. Rowan enjoyed visiting the offices of major Tech companies in San Francisco to gain insights about how these firms use their workplace to attract and retain talent.

Rowan has an extensive track record of successful transactions and assignments, which are regularly featured in the Australian Financial Review and Sydney Morning Herald, and he is known in the property industry as a deal-maker.

Nick Davies

Over the last 10 years Nick has practiced across numerous sectors of commercial property as a solicitor, negotiator, lecturer, and advisor. He possesses a wealth of knowledge and expertise stemming from his career as a commercial property solicitor for a major national law firm. In this role, he specialized in commercial leasing, development and sales transactions which includes negotiation and client advisory.

Additionally, for the last 4 years, Nick has been independently contracted by the Real Estate Institute of Queensland as a tutor, commercial consultant and judge for the REIQ Awards of Excellence.

Nick has extensive experience with negotiation, portfolio management and client management having acted as tenant advisor on behalf of a large number of, state, national and international clients and achieved highly successful results for each.

Recently, Nick completed two of the largest deals for the Queensland Tenant Advisory team by securing a 5,000sqm site in Fortitude Valley and a 4,000sqm site in the Brisbane CBD for long term client IWG.

Justin has represented occupiers for lease renewals, relocations, disposals, consolidations, negotiations, make good and surrender advice. He has also advised clients on their corporate real estate strategies and is an Associate member of the Australian Property Institute (AAPI).